Joel Kuhnel’s return to the Brewers is suddenly looking a lot less straightforward than it did when Milwaukee brought him in back in early June.
The right-hander, who was acquired from the Athletics for cash after being surprisingly designated for assignment, made an immediate impression in his first look with his new club. In Las Vegas, he turned around and faced his old team right away, and the first thing that jumped out was the radar gun. Kuhnel’s fastball had sat at 94 MPH with Oakland, but in his Brewers debut he averaged 99 MPH and hit 100 MPH.
That kind of velocity didn’t hold every time out. Over his next nine appearances with Milwaukee, Kuhnel posted a 6.54 ERA across 9.2 innings.
Even so, he still came through when the Brewers needed him. He picked up saves in back-to-back games in Cincinnati during Milwaukee’s sweep of the Reds, filling in while several of the team’s high-leverage relievers were unavailable.
One of those outings ended with Kuhnel escaping a bases-loaded jam and forcing a game-ending double play, one of the season’s more electric finishes.
Then came the injury. In early July, the 31-year-old landed on the injured list with shoulder impingement, and he is now 12 days into a rehab assignment with Triple-A Nashville. He has already made five appearances for the Sounds, and the clock is ticking: pitchers can spend 30 days on rehab assignment before a decision has to be made.
The problem for Kuhnel is that Milwaukee’s bullpen picture has changed while he’s been out.
Ahead of the trade deadline, the Brewers added three arms in Dustin May, Antonio Senzatela, and JoJo Romero. May has been sharp right away, allowing just three earned runs over 13.0 innings in his first two starts. Senzatela has had some shaky recent outings, but Pat Murphy has still trusted him in high-leverage spots, and he’s expected to matter in the bullpen down the stretch.
Romero is the other major piece in the mix. He’s still on the injured list after an emergency appendectomy, but he is expected back later this month. If his return lines up anywhere near the end of Kuhnel’s rehab window, Milwaukee may not have room to keep both.
Right now, Kuhnel looks like the odd man out. His projected role would be at the back of the bullpen, but that spot is currently occupied by Bryse Wilson, and briefly Lyon Richardson as well. Both have been designated for assignment by the Brewers this month, and Wilson cleared waivers before re-signing with Milwaukee after throwing 34 pitches.
Once Romero is activated, Wilson’s spot appears to be the one that disappears. That could leave Kuhnel to be activated and immediately designated for assignment unless everything happens to line up with the roster expanding by two spots on September 1.
For now, Milwaukee is likely to use all of Kuhnel’s rehab window before making anything official. His future with the club is unsettled, and as the Brewers have shown all season, that picture can change fast.
In Other News...
Brewers Bullpen Just Took Another Hit During A Brutal Stretch
The Brewers are trying to survive a punishing 17-game stretch without an off-day, and the bullpen just got a little thinner in the middle of it. Milwaukee is already juggling multiple injuries on the position-player side, which has forced constant lineup and defensive adjustments, and the pitching staff is now feeling the strain as the club tries to keep everything together day after day.
Abner Uribe has been another name added to the injury list during the grind, creating one more adjustment for a relief corps that has had little room to breathe. In the short term, the Brewers turned to Triple-A for help, but the larger issue is how long they can keep patching holes while the schedule stays relentless and the list of unavailable players keeps growing. [Read more 🡒]
Brewers Make A Dodgers-Day Roster Move Fans Didnt See Coming
The Brewers quietly added another layer to their roster mix on the eve of a high-profile matchup with the Dodgers, acquiring Jonathan Ornelas from the Athletics in a minor trade for cash considerations. Ornelas had only recently been designated for assignment and then re-signed by Oakland on a minor league deal, but Milwaukee moved quickly to bring him in and give itself another infield option as the calendar turns toward an important stretch.
To make room, the Brewers are moving on from Jihwan Bae, a corresponding decision that shows how fluid the back end of the roster can be when teams are trying to squeeze value from every spot. For Milwaukee, the move is less about headlines than fit and timing, and it adds a fresh wrinkle to a roster that is already being managed with the Dodgers in mind. [Read more 🡒]
Misiorowski Gets Another Dodgers Test With Brewers Believing Even More
Jacob Misiorowski is headed back into one of baseballs brightest spotlights, with the Brewers lining him up to face Shohei Ohtani and the Dodgers at Dodger Stadium. It is the kind of assignment that says as much about Milwaukees confidence in the young right-hander as it does about his rise, because Misiorowski has spent this season pitching like far more than a promising arm. He enters the matchup sitting among the sports most dominant starters, with a performance profile that has put him squarely in the National League Cy Young conversation.
Misiorowski has already shown he can handle pressure in October, and he pointed back to his relief work in last years postseason as a turning point that helped him carry this momentum into the present. For the Brewers, the timing of this latest Dodgers test matters because it comes with the belief that his best stuff travels, even against a lineup built to punish mistakes. What makes the start especially compelling is not just who is on the mound, but how the next chapter of Misiorowskis season might look if he handles one of the toughest assignments in the game as well as Milwaukee thinks he can. [Read more 🡒]